04/07/2014
NEWS STORY
For the British Grand Prix in Silverstone the Sauber F1 Team brought the C33 with some aerodynamic modifications to the front area. While Esteban Gutierrez was satisfied with the set-up and the performance of the car, Adrian Sutil was struggling with the balance of his C33, so there will be quite some work to be done this evening. During the first practice session, test and reserve driver Giedo van der Garde was behind the wheel of the C33.
Esteban Gutierrez: "Overall, it was a positive day and I think we are going in a good direction. We were working aggressively on the set-up characteristics; this is the way to find something new and to explore opportunities. In the morning we were struggling with some set-up changes, but we are trying to find a compromise. Moreover, we still need to find stability when braking. Tomorrow is qualifying, so we need to keep pushing."
Adrian Sutil: "I could not run very much today, as I had to sit out the first practice session. It was difficult to feel comfortable with the car during the afternoon session. The set-up was not ideal, and that's why the car did not react in a way we hoped for. We changed something, but didn't get the reaction we wanted. We need to analyse the data to understand what the issue was."
Giedo van der Garde: "It was good to be back in the car. During the first stint I needed some time to get familiar with the car, because the last time I drove the C33 was quite some time ago. The car has improved in some areas, but there is still work to do. I had understeer when turning into the corner under braking. There we can improve. In total I completed 19 laps, which I am satisfied with. All in all it was a good session and a great warm-up for my upcoming test day on Wednesday."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "With Giedo we had a defined programme in the morning, which we went through. Esteban was pretty happy with the car. This gave us the chance to work on different set-ups, which was positive. We are quite satisfied with his car. With the other car we had a difficult day, because Adrian was not happy with the balance. As a consequence of this we skipped the long runs and just concentrated on working on the set-up of his car. This evening we have to work with Adrian to decide what's best set-up wise, and we will check the car to find out whether something is wrong."
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